The Way to a Mama's Heart...

Motherhood has been quite the learning experience for me. A lot of people would call me organized, and I'll admit, I am very organized--almost to an OCD point. But from the moment we walked in the door from the hospital with our little one in tow, my whole level of organization at home changed.

A clean house keeps me sane, plain and simple. I can turn into a grumpy hot mess when the house is out of order, and if there's one thing thats changed the most since having Logan (besides the lack of sleep!) it would be that for some reason I feel like the house just can not stay clean. I can spend hours cleaning trying to make the place sparkle, but as soon as I turn around, it's a big dull dud again with baby elmo books spewing out of every direction.

So over the past week i've implemented a new plan for me to try to keep up with all the work in a way that doesn't leave me cleaning for 8 hours one day every week. (again with the organization, i know...) but so far it's worked out wonderfully! so I thought i'd share!

DAILY= quick pick up in the morning and at night before bed, dishes, laundry. (this has worked out wonderfully because the dishes don't pile up and neither does the laundry. I've only had to do one load of laundry a day or every other day...it's so nice not to have piles waiting to be folded/put away.

MONDAYS=Bathrooms (tubs, showers, sinks, floors, toilets, mirrors)

TUESDAYS= Bedrooms (wash all bedding, pick up, vacuum, organize)

WEDNESDAYS=Kitchen [my least favorite by far] (clean out fridge, organize pantry, organize cabinets if needed, clean surfaces, microwave, sweep, mop)

THURSDAYS= Errands/Shopping. Lately i've been trying to be really good about planning meals ahead of time, so we make out our shopping list so we can shop for meals for the week...then I get all my coupons in order and we go when Jon gets off work. I also use Thursdays, if i'm not working, to catch up on the days that I missed due to work.

FRIDAYS=Floors/Dusting (i'll vacuum the whole house, and do another kitchen sweep if needed)

SATURDAYS=Outdoors (including doggie poop pickup, doggie toy pickup, and any yardwork we can do, which lately hasn't been much...we'll be more active on Saturdays once the weather warms up)

SUNDAY=DAY OF REST!

Again, call me OCD, but it's been so nice not to stress over the tub needing to be cleaned, or the floors looking nasty...it's so easy to put things off when you tell yourself you'll get to it whenever you find time. If you make time to do it, it gets done! Now, don't get me wrong, our house is not at all presentable right now! haha. But if you were to come over, you'd have a clean toilet for your tushy!

It's Officially Official!

A New Year

I know we keep up with most everyone on facebook these days, but I felt like it's a new year and a good time to start keeping back up with the blog!

Our little family is doing wonderfully. Logan is growing like a weed and developing his own personality, although Jon would say it's much like mine. haha. At his 6 month appointment he was 18.3# and 26.5 inches long. He now has two little bottom teeth, and he'll chew on your fingers with them if you'll let him! As far as my updates go... I graduated in December from ASU and had spent most of January studying for the NCLEX. I took the test last week and just found out Saturday that I passed! So i'm officially an RN and start on Wednesday in my new roll and new paygrade haha.

Jon is staying super busy with work. When he's not working he is keeping up with school himself and studying for his test for TSgt that he takes in February. *fingers crossed he passes for another new paygrade! haha*

The doggies are doing well too. Little Milo just loves Logan. The other day Logan was napping in his crib and we realized we hadn't seen Milo in awhile...(for those of you that know Milo you know if it's quiet he's probably into something somewhere) but this time he was napping next to Logan's crib. Otis isn't terribly phased by him though, he'll lick his fingers if he has baby food on them, and will give him a sloppy wet kiss every once in awhile, but other than that Otis keeps to himself. He's tried to drop his toys on Logan a time or two to get Logan to play with him...at which point I went running so that Logan didn't put the nasty toy in his mouth!

Anyway! All is well on our end and I promise I will try my very best to keep up with things now that my world has settled down a bit! Love you all and hope you're all doing well!

It's been too long...

I can't believe the last time I posted was in MAY!!!

I guess because almost all our family is on facebook now and honestly, we don't have too much going on in little ol' Abilene! But here goes...

For those of you who haven't got the memo....

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!!!

Currently, our due date is July 23, 2010 and we couldn't be more thrilled!!!

The hubby and I are doing good...lately we've been busy with school and work. Jon is taking classes working on his CCAF degree...he is on track to be graduating this Spring!

I am on track for starting my nursing program in July. And as many have asked i'll just go ahead and answer...YES I'm still going to school and NO the baby will not hinder me starting my program. I have been working very hard to get all my pre-reqs out of the way...Jon and I are taking my last class together this Spring...meanwhile I am studying for my 2 Cleps I am taking for my nursing program. My program starts July 6 and the first part of the program is only 2 weeks long and then we get a break until the end of August when the Fall semester starts. We are praying and trusting that the baby cooperates and doesn't arrive early! But if it does, we have plans in place for me to get through those 2 weeks. Either way I am on track to graduate in December of 2011 :)

As we begin this new year we consider ourselves already blessed beyond measure... We know that our year is in HIS hands and that HIS will, will be done in our lives.

We wish all of you a happy new year and pray God's blessings on your life!

Love you all,

Jon, Jalane, Baby, and pups :)

May

I know i've been slackin' in blog land lately so please forgive me! I'll do my best to catch everyone up today!!!!

We are officially some what organized in the new house now! We are loving it! It's so nice to be able to do whatever we want to the house and not worry about if we're allowed to or not! We have many projects in the works right now but our main one has been landscaping the yards! Our main goal is the back yard cuz when it rains the dog has no where to go because of all the mud! So Jon has been working hard at getting the back yard all cultivated for sod and such. This past weekend we started working a bit on the front. Mainly we planted a couple shrubs and put down some pine bark mulch around them... nothing too fancy, but definately better than dirt! I know it looks very messy right now...but don't worry...we've cleaned up since this pic! haha

We had some visitors the week before Mother's Day! It was so much fun! Debbie and Jess drove down to come visit! I had to work the first couple days they were here...but after that I was able to join in on the fun. The Friday before Mother's Day we took Debbie out and celebrated with her! It was a blast! We wrote little poems and would give them to her throughout the day as clues to what was coming next. Odie woke her up with the first poem that told her to go shower and there were flowers in the bathroom for her...then while she was showering Jess snuck in and hung a new outfit up for her with some bath and body works and left another clue! Then Jon took her to Starbucks and then the mall...and at the mall Jess and I were sitting in our pedicure booth waiting for her...then lunch... then we went home and freshened up...and then took her back the mall where we had some pictures done for her! They came out sooooo good! Then we did go karts! then bowling (which i'm suprised to say I WON! haha) then we went out to dinner at Olive Garden. It was just so much fun.

As for lately, we really haven't been doing much other than working on the yard and working. I'm hoping to take my last two classes needed this summer...and then start my 21week nursing program in November and be done for good after that! Jon is planning on starting back to school this fall as well...

Little Odie is doing good too! Spoiled as ever, but it's ok :)

HOMEOWNERS!

We are officially homeowners!!! After all the troubles and stressors it's all done!

Now that we have moved in we received a not so nice welcome from out neighbors. Twice not our teenage neighbor next door has egged our house. We are so not happy. We've cleaned up the egg and tried to let it go. However, the other day this kid and his mom were pulling out of the driveway so Jon and I stood on the front poarch and starred them down as they pulled out. We know they saw us too...since then nothing has been done so hopefully it stays that way.

I have started my new job and i'm absolutely loving it. The people are amazing and i'm loving the medical side of everything. Jon is loving his job as well...they are so laid back and easy going that it makes his work environment so much better. Jon has also started the process for getting set up to finish school starting this fall!! So that's good too. As far as my schooling goes...I'm trying to get a couple classes set up for the summer so that I can start my nursing program in November. The program is a fast paced, 21 week program that allows me to test for my RN when finished! So by this time next year I could be done with everything!!!! So excited!

Next week Jessica, Debbie, and Norm are coming to visit!!! We're so excited! We have some fun stuff planned for their visit and i'm sure they're excited to see the house in person! Other than that we are just kinda hanging out and relaxing. We've had a stressful past couple months so it's nice to just relax for a bit. Hope everyone else is doing well too! And if you're ever in the Abilene area you know you have a place to stay! I'll try to post pictures of the house soon. We are going to try to finish everything up tonight :)

Quick Update

I have many things to say but I am oh-so tired so I will make this short and simple...

• We are moved in our home but waiting to close.
• We should close sometime this week.
• I (Jalane) start work this week. Very excited. Kinda..
• Jon has started work and absolutely loves it. Great coworkers and an all around great environment to be in.
• Dog is doing better allergy wise.
• This weekend was our first weekend spent at home since we've left Florida.
• Went to ABQ last weekend. Tons of fun...pics to come.
• Went to Clovis weekend before that. Again, tons of fun...pics to come.
• House is starting to look like a home with pictures on the walls and less boxes on the floors. I'm quite proud of it.
• Congress and the President have signed off on the flood insurance program (for those of you who were wondering...)
• Right now we are waiting for them to come fix our laundry room in the house. The room isn't big enough for both our washer and dryer. Imagine that. So we are having to stack them and the builder is having to re-route the dryer vent and such to another wall... once he fixes that we will close.
• If any of you have any pics from our visits I would GREATLY appreciate you forwarding them to me so I can add them to our Christmas CD for this year.
• Love you all! I'll give a more formal update once we settle down a bit.